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A difficult conversation can take many forms — emotionally intense, sharing unexpected information, challenging someone, reasserting boundaries.Whatever ‘difficult’ looks like to you, we all have something in common: we’re terribly under-practiced in having these conversations.For Kate Crawshaw, role play can be the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to feeling confident about difficult conversations. Creating a container and taking the time to practice, rehash, and become familiar with our ‘difficult’ selves can make every conversation feel more manageable and ourselves more grounded.Vital work for facilitators, you’ll no doubt agree.Find out about:How role play can give us a second chance — or a practice run — with difficult conversationsWhy difficult conversations are made more difficult by their scarcityHow to set the rules in role play and maintain a non-judgement practiceWhy it’s fruitless to role play as yourselfWhy judgement is a core part of facilitation and why it can feel so difficult to defer itHow controlling the tempo of your conversations can settle your nervesHow to stop focusing on your own ‘performance’ by refocusing on the learning outcomeDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.LinksSerious WooConnect to Kate:On LinkedInShare your thoughts about our conversation!Support the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Organisations will go to great lengths to create style guides, knowledge hubs, and team guides… so why aren’t they doing the same for problem-solving?Stefan Fothe believes organisations should be prioritising ‘thinking tools’ — a set of codes, methods, and skills that are shared among groups to problem-solve and ideate with autonomy and ease.Just as we develop shared technical languages and social hierarchies, we can surely add thinking tools to the mix! Learn how Stefan developed this important theory, why we need to lean into tension, and how you can prioritise thinking tools in your work with this episode.Find out about:What thinking tools are - with practical examples - and how they help groups solve problemsWhy companies are held back by not having a shared problem-solving methodologyWhy solutions have to be engineered from within, rather than presented by consultantsWhen to ask questions and when to provide suggestions — and how this can reduce overloadWhat happens when we treat tension as a valuable commodity, rather than a problemWhy consultants are storytellers and what everyone can learn from this approachHow to take ownership of tension and use it, constructively, to the company’s advantageDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.LinksStefan’s website https://ownity.com.au/Stefan’s short video on one Thinking Tool exampleConnect to Stefan:On LinkedInShare your thoughts about our conversation!Support the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

An organisational change process is a big deal. The whole operating system of a business can change, the context switches, the foundations can falter.But systems are systems — they are malleable and hard-wearing. People, on the other hand, are sensitive and emotional and often hugely resistant to change. And it is people who have to live, work, and operate within these new systems.Rhys Cranney wants the whole concept of change management to move away from a focus on systems to a focus on people and the emotional impact it brings. After hearing him speak so passionately in this episode, I think he will have many people supporting this belief!Find out about:Why the human desire for control makes the change process so complicatedWhy inclusion makes change so much more palatableHow the process changes when we acknowledge the emotional cost it entailsHow facilitation affects physical, emotional, and mental wellbeingWhy a bottom-up, individuals-first, approach can be helpful when planning changeWhat’s different when everybody understands both the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ behind a changeDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Connect to Rhys:On LinkedInShare your thoughts about our conversation!Support the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Experienced Bob Dick delves into self-organising groups, hierarchy removal, and the path to self-organising systems. Discusses honesty, empathy, storytelling, and the Australasian Facilitator Network. Explores the role of a facilitator, autonomy in education, and community building. Touches on virtual meetings, structured vs self-organising facilitation, mystical practices, and embracing autonomy and effective facilitation.

Conflict in workshops is common, but how many of us seek to avoid it instead of embracing it?It’s understandable, and dare I say natural, to do so, but as Sarah Norton and Steve Ray explain in this episode, conflict is a growth opportunity. The journey through conflict can be uncomfortable, but the destination beyond it is one of radical difference.Sarah and Steve have trained countless facilitators in the art of conflict facilitation — not ‘management’ or ‘resolution’, but precisely ‘facilitation’ —  and share their key takeaways, common realisations, and secrets to success in this episode.Find out about:How to use conflict as a growth opportunity and why it’s important to do soWhat work facilitators shall do to prevent themselves being triggered in conflictsWhy well-facilitated conflict can be so powerful — and what can happen when it isn’’t facilitatedWhy a focus on inner work will serve facilitators better than learning more tools or methodsHow to create coherent and memorable principle statements for yourselfWhy facilitators are in the room to protect the space, rather than direct itHow and why Sarah and Steve train facilitators to be consciously incompetentDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.LinksGroupwork Centre website.Connect to Sarah and Steve:Sarah on LinkedInSteve on LinkedInShare your thoughts about our conversation!Support the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

An external facilitator enters the building with a clear purpose and a single-minded focus. An internal facilitator enters the building five days a week, most weeks of the year, in the middle of all the idiosyncratic relationships, needs, and culture that exists.The two are in very different positions and so different skills, approaches, and mindsets are necessary.More often than not, I speak with independent facilitators — freelancers or solopreneurs — so an insight into the world of corporate facilitation felt important. It also felt incredibly enlightening, thanks to Lani Beer’s openness and thoughtfulness when sharing her vast experience. Lani has been facilitating in-house for 20 years (give or take) and calls on all of those years of rich experience in this episode.Find out about:Why facilitators can find a new (or another) home with the title of ‘innovator’How Lani combines design thinking, Agile, and facilitation skills to work with bankers and lawyersWhat an internal facilitator does when they aren’t hosting or planning workshopsHow to avoid ‘shiny new object’ syndrome when you have a voracious appetite for learningWhy a ‘worry list’ should sit alongside your to-do list — and why it’s so effectiveHow to triage requests (from clients or colleagues) to identify learning opportunities and protect your boundariesHow using non-verbal communication can help well-spoken participants unlock new answersDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.Connect to Lani:On LinkedInShare your thoughts about our conversation!Support the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

No CEO or board is going to sign off on a project to make work more playful. This is because the misconception that play = games persists.The reality, however, is that more play at work will lead to more effective teams and better collaboration.Pauline McNulty joins me in this episode to explain why play, enjoyment, engagement, and purpose are all faces of the same die. When we roll it, they are all possible outcomes and they are all connected.If we are bringing a group together to deliver on a goal (or goals), the opportunity for play is inescapable. It’s up to us to embrace it — and Pauline explains how and why that’s such a good idea.Find out about:How to create a work culture that prioritises joy — and how play connects with itWhy the path to play in work starts with reexamining what work really meansHow to get in touch with your preferred way to playWhy Pauline wants use to stop conflating play and gamesWhat the four levers to make work more playful are — and how to activate themWhy reframing situations is the most powerful tool for playful workDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Why Play Works podcastThe Play Works CollectiveThe Play Works’ Meet-Up pagePlayfilledPlay: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Dr Stuart BrownDr Stuart Brown’s TED talkConnect to Pauline:On LinkedInShare your thoughts about our conversation!Support the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Workplace training and learning can inspire some varied responses. For some, a roll of the eyes and a sense of wasted time. For others (usually those who work with Steph Clarke), a brightening and lightening as possibilities open ahead of them.Why is it that workplace learning is so variable across organisations? Steph can point to several root causes — and we spend this episode diagnosing the faults and suggesting their fixes.From applying facilitation skills in unusual ways to bringing groups on board as co-creators, Steph opens up a world of possibilities for a future in which workplace learning is consistently valuable, relevant, and engaging.Step into that future with us and enjoy Steph generously sharing her expertise!Find out about:Why delivering a pre-defined workshop or lecture is the worst way to engage a groupWhat changes when you use real examples from participants’ work in your trainingHow to design learning experiences with a collaborative heartWhy learning a client’s language can transform your communicationWhy a rigid plan encourages participants to check outHow you can design your training with, not for, participantsDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Steph’s business, 28 Thursdays.Connect to Steph:On LinkedInShare your thoughts about our conversation!Support the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Emotions are messy — they’re big, powerful, and changeable. Facts and data are much more palatable — they’re truths and we can discuss our use of them.But if an organisation is so focused on cognitive culture, they end up neglecting emotional culture. And that’s a sure path towards burnout, resentment, and employee turnover.Cognitive culture is easy to default to, so how can organisations get comfortable with the discomfort of building a more emotional culture? Jeremy Dean has plenty of ideas — and a deck of cards to help any group navigate the process.Find out about:Why we need to be brave to share our emotions at work — and why it’s worth the riskHow prioritising simplicity helps people get in touch with their emotions in unfamiliar spacesWhat happens when we label our emotions with positive and negative language How to facilitate daring conversations at workWhy we should celebrate the person who makes the first moveWhat to do when you’re facilitating a game as a beginnerWhy it’s harmful that corporate culture prioritises cognitive culture over emotionalDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.The Emotional Culture Deck.Riders & Elephants, Jeremy’s business.Connect to Jeremy:On LinkedInOn TwitterShare your thoughts about our conversation!Support the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

What makes some events better than others? Is it the host, the setting, the purpose, or something else?Jacques Martiquet is The Party Scientist — he’s experimented, tested, and explored the science of gathering and connecting for 10+ years — and he’s got some fantastic answers. Jacques has committed himself to the mission of spreading the health benefits of human connection. Creating more impactful events goes hand-in-hand with this.Explore the art and science of connection and apply the best of the science to your next event. It might just transform the experience — for you and your attendees! Find out about:How Jacques has spent the last 10 years learning and experimenting with connectionWhy the worst thing that can happen to a group is an uncomfortable facilitatorHow to reclaim social pressure and use it in a positive way to help groupsHow physical movement can unlock groups and make connection feel easierWhy not all prompts and props are made equally — and how you can select the right ones for the right momentWhat to do if you want to get more comfortable with rejection and role modellingDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Episode 131 with Jacques.How facilitators can work with Jacques.Connect to Jacques:On LinkedInShare your thoughts about our conversation!Support the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!